Sometimes
by KaorinPaintsTheStars
Summary: A young Zelos and Seles take a walk in the woods one evening. Small fic, small summary I guess.


A/N: Random one-off short that occurs when Zelos and Seles were young. Don't own the characters or anything like that,but I'm doing my own character development for Seles as I'll probably write more fics about her at some point. Probably.

Anywway, I don't write much about these two so don't hate me too much if it's a little out of character. :)

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"Big brother, _wait_!"

Seles paused, gasping for breath, and steadied herself against the rough bark of a nearby tree while she looked nervously around the darkening forest. The sun was in the final stages of its descent now, no more than a burning orb hanging low in the sky, and the young red haired child felt the tiny beginnings of panic manifest itself at the back of her mind. It wasn't the first time she had fervently wished to be back at home in Meltokio, resting in front of the roaring hearth fire, and she had a feeling it wouldn't be the last either.

Zelos paused a little furtherthe autumn-kissed path and waited, a touch of impatience showing in his posture at the delay.

"Come on," he said encouragingly. "It'll be dark soon. You don't want to be lost in the woods at night do you?"

Seles clapped a hand to her mouth as another series of violent coughs burst from her lips. "_No_ I don't," she wailed. Her voice sounded hoarse, and she swallowed to remove the painful dryness that had grown throughout the afternoon. The earlier warm air had been good for her, but as it cooled it had stung and tickled her throat and chest, compounding her inherit sickness. The young girl plucked a rogue twig from her bonnet and cast it down on the leaf coated ground. "_Are_ we lost?"

"Of course we're not," Zelos replied, following her lead and cleaning up his clothes. He grinned wickedly, "But if you don't hurry up I'll leave you here."

"You can't!" Seles placed her hands on her hips and glared at her half-brother. "You're older than me and…and you're just not allowed!"

Zelos' grin softened to a gentle smile. "Heh, how do _you_ know?"

"_Because_! I'm sick – you _have_ to take care of me!" Seles sniffed, and clutched her tiny satchel to her chest.

"All right, all right my poorly little sister – I was only joking." Zelos walked back down the path and held out his hand. Seles looked at it for a second before wiping her eyes and taking it.

"Anyway," she added sulkily, "It was _your_ idea to come here in the first place."

"Mine?" Zelos began walking at a slower pace, and Seles tried her best to keep up with him. "I thought you wanted to see those…oh, whatever they were called."

"Angel Weir Pearls," she replied proudly, clutching her satchel, and the book of pressed flowers within, tightly. "Silver Angelic Aescopia to give their scientific name. Did you know that –"

"Sis, you're being weird again," interrupted Zelos. "You gotta stop that if you want to impress all the guys in your class."

Seles looked across at the young boy and scowled. "Eww. And I'm _not_ being weird! If _you_ spent more time reading the books in the study than –"

"Going out and having fun?" Zelos chuckled to himself. "I'll pass thanks. You do the clever part for me 'k?"

"Hmph, you'll be sorry when I'm at the top of the class and you're just scraping by!" Seles paused to cough again. Her skin was beginning to feel hot and clammy, and her eyelids burned whenever she closed them.

Zelos seemed to study her face for a second as they walked, before looking back up at the sky. "Do you think? Maybe they'll give me good grades just for being the Chosen."

"I _knew_ you'd say something like that," replied Seles fiercely, and she felt the bitterness of frustration and envy rise to the surface. "That's just like you." She stopped in her tracks, feeling a sickly heat rise in her cheeks. "You rely on the benefits of being a Chosen without ever putting in the hard work."

She stormed off down the twisting woodland path before Zelos could reply, feeling anger and frustration guide her onwards. The sound of her half-brother following forced her to stay at a fast pace out of pride, and she ignored him whenever he called her name. Gradually though, the sickly heat in her skin rose up to consume her mind and she felt a surreal dizziness cloud her senses. The path before her seemed to shift and distort, and the trees on either side blurred as her eyes struggled to focus on a single area.

"Oh no, not again." Seles coughed, and realised that she was having another attack. The sudden dizzy spell caused the young girl to lose her footing on the uneven ground and the vain attempt to steady herself failed. There was a brief pain in her knee as it made contact with the ground before a comforting darkness consumed her.

"Seles. _Seles_!"

The young girl opened her eyes to see Zelos' face looking down at her, wearing a half-concerned, half-humoured look. Seles groaned and tried to sit up, but he laid a hand gently on her shoulder.

"Hold on a minute sis, you've hurt yourself."

She looked down at her throbbing knee and realised that it was cut and bleeding heavily, the red fluid staining her long pleated skirt in the process. Seeing the wound triggered a sharp pain that began to lance through her whole leg, but Seles was determined not to cry in front of her big brother. Nevertheless, her eyes felt moist as Zelos crouched down to place a hand over the wound. She grabbed her satchel and clutched it tightly to her chest while he whispered words of incantation.

"First aid."

A green light flowed from his hand onto the wound like thick luminescent water, and her skin cooled down significantly. Zelos grinned at her as the skin began knitting itself together. "See? Aren't I great?"

Seles scowled and wiped the blood away from the healed skin, which she noticed had begun to itch a little. The sickly heat was turning into an unpleasant cold sweat now, and her eyes still throbbed as she looked away from her half-brother. The sun was vanishing beneath the tree line, fleeing from the moon's arrival and leaving a purple hue to haunt the darkening sky.

"…Sure. Great."

The young boy held out a hand to help her up. "Heh, not exactly the praise I was hoping for."

Seles swatted the hand away and struggled to her feet. "Why did _you_ have to be the Chosen?" she snapped angrily, triggering another coughing fit. "It's not fair! You…you just treat it like a game, like it's…but I…"

Zelos frowned. "Why? You'd what?"

"Oh, you wouldn't understand." Seles felt a sudden wave of nausea pass through her and closed her eyes to reduce the dizziness while she stood up. She didn't feel well enough for an argument on the subject, and it would be pointless to try and make him see how she felt anyway. She sighed, "Can we _go_ now please?"

Her half-brother thought for a moment, then smiled. "Sure, we're nearly home now anyway." They walked in silence for a few moments, before he spoke up again. "Is this about you thinking you're a burden?"

"W-what?" Seles shook her head vigorously, knowing she was giving herself away in the process. Had he been eavesdropping when she prayed at night? "I…I never said that."

Zelos laughed softly. "Yes you did. I heard you!" His voice became a high-pitched parody of her own. "Make me the Chosen so I won't be ill, or a burden."

"S-shut up. I never said that!" Seles began to quicken her pace again but she was too exhausted. Zelos wrapped an arm around hers and she looked sulkily up at his reassuring smile.

"Don't worry sis," he said. "You're not a burden, and I'll always look after you."

Seles sighed and shook her head. "Sometimes, big brother, I _really _don't like you."

"But sometimes you _do_, right?"

She made a show of rolling her eyes, but couldn't stop the small smile from surfacing on her lips. "Yeah…" she whispered, looking away. "Sometimes, I guess I do."


End file.
